


Swimming in a fishbowl

by trixiechick



Category: Gundam Wing
Genre: M/M, Post-Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-28
Updated: 2019-09-28
Packaged: 2020-10-30 03:29:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,273
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20807792
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trixiechick/pseuds/trixiechick
Summary: Duo in a new place.





	Swimming in a fishbowl

**Author's Note:**

> ohboy. i'm not sure i remember how this works...
> 
> i haven't written anything in so long i just... i feel like i've forgotten who i am. there's still a TON i want to write, but i decided THIS had to be what i broke back into writing with because
> 
> in March, one of my fandom idols died. Sunhawk was an inspiration to me, she brought joy to fandom and by extension, then, to the lives of so many... and i think i was lucky to also call her a friend. she was one of the best people i ever met in fandom, so to find out she had died, it was devastating. 
> 
> per [her daughter's final message from Sunhawk](https://sunhawk16.livejournal.com/201195.html), i desperately, desperately wanted to commemorate what she meant to me with the most appropriate thing possible... some fic. this is incredibly paltry, though, as an offering of that nature. however, this is the best i can do at the moment. and. that's ok.
> 
> so, anyway. thank you, Sunhawk, for... literally everything that you were. that you still are to so many. and, ummmmm, enjoy.
> 
> thanks.

  


* * *

  
  
The coffee was _terrible_, possibly the worst he'd ever had. Duo was bemused to find that it was _so_ bad, it was endearing. That was a pretty good way to describe this colony, in fact. Calling it a colony was a kindness; it had nearly been destroyed during the war, and then abandoned for years. Scrappers and scavengers had been having their way with it, but a new group was moving in and making it a home.

It was like a metaphor for something, but Duo was never good at abstracts like that.

He'd been here for less than a month, but this joint was something of a regular stop for him. There was only one other place to get coffee in this junkheap, and the coffee was the same and the view was worse. Here, Duo could sit back in the 'patio' seating and watch the people and machines going by. 

Watching people like this made him feel... something. He couldn't define what it was and he was too self-aware to not be afraid to dwell on it, but it wasn't entirely unpleasant. He felt whatever, he drank whatever, and he watched whatever went by.

There were worse ways to live.

"Is this seat taken?"

Duo smiled before he looked up. "Doesn't look like it," he said amicably. He was friendly. He liked meeting people. He was a people person. That was on his resume, although he and Hilde only put that together as a joke right when the war ended on L2. It also had _Only committed mass murder a few times_ on it, so.

"I guess this is the top coffee spot. Despite the coffee," she joked lamely. Duo guessed that she was a few years younger than him, and that they had somewhat similar childhoods. She had grease smudges on her face, and she was still in her coveralls. 'Still' likely wasn't the operative word. She probably only had coveralls. 

She was maybe considered cute by a lot of the guys here. "Location, location, location," Duo bantered back, proving his verbal acumen. 

She looked around nervously while she sipped her drink. "Yeah, well... I hope some new places open up soon. It's not like I'm in any hurry to get back to the _dorm_. It's not bad or anything, just. You work all day with people, you need some time to yourself..."

"You're with a crew?" Duo asked sympathetically. There were no locals. The people who founded this colony, the people who lived here before the war... the ones who were still alive were living somewhere else already. The population was all imported. A good place for a young person with no background to get some experience and some freedom. A good place for someone with too much background to get away...

"Yeah, I'm with the Tornan group. Right now we're building a hospital. That's... kinda amazing." She had a look on her face... there wasn't a word that Duo knew for that look, but he knew it.

Not from personal experience, of course. Maybe Quatre did. Duo turned his face away, just in case _he_ has Some Kind of expression. Who knew. "That's good stuff," he replied because it was his turn to speak.

People person.

"What about you? You're... you don't look like a dorm guy," she tried to sound cheerful and not too eager.

Wait, was she hitting on him? That hadn't occurred to him. Well, it was fine. "Nah. I got a... situation for myself." It was too much of an instinct to be evasive that he didn't bother trying to fight it anymore.

She nodded as if she understood. "There's all kinds of people here, aren't there? Well, not quite _all_ kinds. I guess we won't have any rich people types until... well, until we have better coffee, at least." She smiled brightly, so Duo smiled, too. "I didn't really... I'm not complaining, Tornan's offer is good, we're actually getting paid. That's always nice. My little brother was worried when I signed on, though. He was afraid this place would be full of... I don't know, roving bands of rapists or something." She rolled her eyes and shrugged, but Duo could tell. She'd been nervous, too.

With good reason. "Always be prepared. Someone told me that once, I guess it's good advice."

Her eyes darted around as she watched the traffic going by. Duo suspected that what she was seeing was very different from what he was seeing. "Yeah... I get teased by the crew sometimes, but... This is the first time... my brother and I have been separated. But. The pay... it's good, and my brother, well, he's in school. He complained that it's too expensive, but he's smart and hard working. He'll be able get a job I never could soon. So." 

She was still smiling, so Duo had to admire her. Taking care of her brother... Duo didn't want to think about that too hard. "Then you can sponge off of him."

"That's the plan," she agreed, seeming a little calmer. "What about you, what brings you here? Ah, I don't mean to... I'm not prying..."

"Just making conversation," Duo winked at her. Oh, maybe she was still hitting on him... oh, well. "Actually, I'm..." For a second, he had to think about what he was going to say. And then he decided to screw it, he used to always go on and on about how he told the truth. "I moved here because of my stalker."

Her eyes widened. "You have a stalker?!"

Duo couldn't help laughing. "Sorry, sorry, you look so serious!"

"You don't have a stalker," she asked, looking relieved.

"Oh, I do, but he's not dangerous or anything. He's not dangerous _to me_," he clarified. 

She didn't look convinced. 

"He bugs my devices, and hacks into my accounts. But, he doesn't _do_ anything. He's like a ghost, keeping tabs on me," Duo explained.

"That sounds dangerous. So, you came here to unplug and evade this.. this stalker?" she asked.

"I'm not trying to evade him. I'm trying to force him out into the open," Duo failed to explain. Her eyes widened. "He's only been _cyber_stalking me, see. As long as he can track my day to day life, he's fine. But I want him to come out of hiding and see me face to face, so." She looked so horrified, so he shrugged. "I should clarify. I _know_ my stalker. We're friends. It's fine."

She did not look convinced. 

Telling the truth wasn't always the best option. 

The conversation lagged after that, but Duo really was a People Person, so when he got up to leave, he was friendly. Because he had been trained since birth, essentially, to be careful, his walk home took the better part of an hour, even though he lived about three blocks from the coffee shop. 

He had three locks on his door, which was basically an 'in joke' with himself because he was living in a reclaimed shipping container that he'd punched a door into and then also a window as an afterthought. Also, only one of the locks worked and the other two he just had to jimmy the door a little. 

The most reliable security system he'd ever had was the same as Solo's - his wits.

He stepped inside, relocked all three locks to be funny, and then turned on the small lamp he had as a light source.

He impressed himself with how little he started when he saw Heero Yuy standing in his kitchen going through his drawers. 

"You... there are lights..." Duo shook his head. "I was just talking about you." Duo interpreted the slight reaction from Heero as suspicion, so he winked. "Don't worry, I was only talking vaguely. _About my stalker_." He pointedly looked at Heero.

Who managed to look a shade sheepish. Possibly. 

Actually... Duo was glad he was standing next to a table. It was reassuring to have the slight feeling that he had support. He hadn't seen Heero since... the Mariemaia incident. His hair was a little shorter and maybe spikier, hard to tell. Otherwise, he looked... how he always looked. He had nice boots on. Why did he even notice that? Damn training... he didn't want to be looking at Heero's boots...

"Why are you living... here?" 

That was a loaded question, and it was hard to tell what it was loaded with because there was no expression on Heero's face. As always. "That's a broad question... from _my stalker_... but. This was as far off the grid as I could find that still has some approximations of coffee, so."

Heero narrowed his eyes. "You... were in some kind of trouble...?"

"Wouldn't you know if I was?" Duo crossed his arms over his chest. He was starting to feel a little testy. Heero was being predictably difficult when this should be simple. He could at least act like he _wanted_ to see Duo again... "I mean, you've hacked my computer, my phone, all my accounts..."

Heero shifted from foot to foot. Maybe he felt a tiny bit guilty after all. "What... makes you think that?"

"At first, I wasn't sure, but you aren't the only one who can hack, you know. You're just _better_ than me, so I couldn't trace you. When I realized how sophisticated my stalker was, I figured there weren't many options. I talked to Sally Po and made sure the Preventers weren't keeping an eye on me. Then I thought, maybe _he's_ keeping track of all of us, but I asked the other guys. They weren't being stalked. It does feel nice to be special. Like how you can't even bring yourself to punch me unless I punch you first. Doesn't mean you hold back, though," Duo rubbed his belly.

Heero avoided his gaze.

"I was happy enough to know you were alive," Duo continued quietly. "But... that just made me want to see you all the more. So, I, uh, took a gamble. I figured if I went off the grid and, well, cut you off... maybe you'd come after me. ...Actually, it took less time than I thought it would," Duo smiled crookedly.

Heero chanced a quick look at Duo, and then went back to looking at the dust in the corner. 

Duo rolled his eyes. "This is ridiculous," he muttered, and then he left the comfort of leaning against the table, striding over to Heero. He didn't give the so-called _Perfect Soldier_ a moment to think about it. He touched Heero's face gently, smiling. Then, he softly kissed Heero. Just a touch, practically a friendly gesture. With a sigh of relief, he put his arms around Heero, resting his chin on Heero's shoulder. "It's good to see you. You know, when there's not a war on. This is new for us."

Duo wasn't expecting anything from Heero. That wasn't entirely true as he uprooted his entire life in a ploy to get to see Heero, but. In this moment, he was just happy Heero let Duo get this close. Surprisingly, though, Heero put his arms around Duo, too. He was stiff and uncertain, and he was touching Duo's braid which Duo was trying to be reasonable about, but he was, essentially, hugging Duo. 

It was a miracle.

"Where have you been, Heero?" Duo asked quietly.

Heero sighed, and Duo could feel it against his skin, which was... it was a lot of things all at once and Duo wasn't going to show any of it because it was too much for Heero, probably. "I... I went to school some."

"How was that?" 

"Boring. But easy. And I... traveled. Saw things."

"Good things?"

"Some."

Duo felt giddy, so he squeezed Heero in what he hoped was a welcome way. "Sorry for interrupting your schedule. There's not much to see here."

"Mm. ... Well, there's you," Heero replied softly.

Duo was so shocked his pulled away to look at Heero, but Heero averted his gaze again.

"I... didn't think you'd be able to tell I was... keeping tabs," Heero admitted begrudgingly. 

"You deleted emails before I could read them," Duo tried to get Heero to look at him, but that damned dust must have been more fascinating than Duo knew.

"That guy was a jerk, anyway," Heero muttered.

"He was my boss. They were work emails. I had to tell him I had a virus," Duo smirked.

"He just wanted to get you alone. It was harassment," Heero was adamant. 

"You're an idiot," Duo shook his head. "What's the point of being jealous when you aren't even talking to me?" 

Heero flushed, and he glared at the dust.

Duo couldn't help himself. He kissed Heero's forehead softly. "Well, ok. What's next? You, uh... have some time to hang out with me? Or are you... back on the metaphorical road?"

"I... don't have anywhere to be," Heero replied, taking a deep breath. And then he looked Duo in the eye.

Duo ignored the way his heart was pounding. "Funny, me, neither. Sounds like we have a plan, then."

Heero looked around, and Duo thought he might pull away, but he didn't. He seemed to be evaluating Duo's life choices, but then he said quietly, "Sorry about the stalking."

"Eh, it's ok. Just promise me..." he wanted to ask A Lot of Heero. _Just stay with me_ came to mind. What came out of his mouth was "you'll just call me the next time you miss me."

Heero gave him a funny look Duo could interpret if he was feeling optimistic. "Sure."

That was a promise, then.


End file.
